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One of the world’s longest-running festivals kicked off in Mumbai Saturday for the Indian monetary hub’s greatest music extravaganza for the reason that finish of the pandemic.

Lollapalooza’s arrival in Mumbai is the primary time the pageant has been staged in Asia after branching out from its American origins prior to now decade.

Crowds thronged the Mahalaxmi racecourse close to the centre of a metropolis that, earlier than the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic, was more and more changing into a preferred tour cease for main worldwide artists.

“I think it’s huge — it’s the first major American festival to come to India, I couldn’t miss it,” Narayani Anand, 29, informed AFP.

“The live music scene is really bouncing back,” she mentioned. “It’s almost like signifying the end to the dark days.”

Not everybody was impressed by this yr’s lineup, regardless of months of anticipation, when the pageant’s Mumbai debut was introduced final yr.

The Strokes, Diplo and Imagine Dragons headline the inaugural live performance and Binjal Shah, 30, was amongst those that determined to skip it.

“The tickets were exorbitant considering the lineup. I couldn’t justify spending that much,” she informed AFP.

“There was mad hype before the lineup dropped. But the lineup was really sad. My friends who bought early-bird tickets were really disappointed.”

Around 60,000 individuals are anticipated on the pageant over two days, organisers say.

Lollapalooza was launched within the early Nineteen Nineties by Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell in the course of the US increase of different music.

It was initially conceived as a travelling pageant that may discover non-mainstream music and tradition.

Lollapalooza shut down after criticism that the pageant was changing into more and more commodified however re-emerged in 2005 as an annual occasion with Chicago the common venue.

The pageant has since expanded to Latin America, with variations in Argentina, Brazil and Chile, in addition to Europe beginning with a 2015 version in Berlin.